The Cutting Edge

Sat 23 September 2023

Museum of Classical Archaeology

We pile meaning on our hair, changing the cut, style and colour to influence how the world sees us – and how we see ourselves. Hair is always with us and is a part of our body which we can modify at will. And if this is true today, it was also true in the ancient past. So for one afternoon only, we’re going to be getting hands-on with ancient hair and embodying the styles of the classical past here in our atmospheric Cast Gallery.

There will be...
* Live haircutting!
* Free face painting!
* A family trail, Bold beards and bewitching braids!
* Cut it out! A series of hands-on crafts for you and your littles.

Featuring...
* Mary Harlow, an expert on ancient women’s hairstyles, doing up-dos of dizzying heights.
* The stylists at douce in Eddington, who will be shaving and trimming some willing volunteers into their sculptural models gathered round.
* An eager panel of hair-storians: Lea Niccolai, Dawn LaValle Norman and Miles Pattenden.


This event is produced in association with the Godly Grooming conference at CRASSH and the Hierarchies of Hair project.

For more about museum access: https://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/museum/visit-us/access

Cost: Free